Punjab elections 2022: Two transgenders, 93 women among 1,304 contesting candidates

Chandigarh, February 10: Among 1,304 candidates in the fray for the Punjab Assembly elections 2022, two are transgenders and 93 women, according to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab, Dr S Karuna Raju. The CEO on Thursday said among all candidates, nine candidates were aged 25 years and six candidates were aged above 80 years. SAD's Parkash Singh Badal, who is contesting from Lambi, is the oldest one. Dr S Karuna Raju said there are a total of 2,14,99,804 registered voters in Punjab fo the Assembly elections 2022 — 1,12,98,081 male, 1,02,00,996 female, 727 third genders, 1,58,341 PWD voters, 1,09,624 service voters, 1,608 NRI voters and 5,09,205 voters aged above 80 years. He said there were 24,740 polling stations in 14,684 locations, of which 2,013 polling stations at 1,051 locations had been identified as critical. All polling booths would be covered under webcasting on the polling day. Also read | Covid-19: Seven-day home quarantine for international arrivals scrapped; check revised guidelines A minimum half-section of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and remaining force from the Punjab Police would be deployed at critical polling locations as per the norms prescribed by the Election Commission of India. Dr Raju said to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections, as many as 972 flying squad teams (FSTs), 857 static surveillance teams (SSTs), 479 video surveillance teams (VSTs), 159 video viewing team (VVTs) and 119 accounting teams have been deployed across the state and are working round the clock. The Punjab Assembly elections are scheduled on February 20 from 8 am to 6 pm, and the counting of votes would take place on March 10. Also read | Bihar man awarded death sentence for raping minor in Punjab's Kapurthala -PTC News